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Anthony Ralston speaks on impressing Rodgers

Speaking to Celtic TV, young defender Anthony Ralston has said that he is desperate to impress new manager Brendan Rodgers at Paradise.

The 17-year-old looks set to be at Celtic for a while yet after signing a three-year contract with the Scottish champions earlier this month.

Perhaps the wheels for this were set in motion before Rodgers arrived, with Ralston making his first-team debut in Celtic's penultimate Premiership clash this past season by earning 16 minutes in the 2-1 defeat at St Johnstone.

But Ralston's stock is high after impressing on loan with Queens Park in the first half of the 2015-16 campaign, and the starlet hopes to make a similar impact in the Hoops' first team next season by impressing the ex-Liverpool boss.

Asked on Celtic TV how he is planning to impress Rodgers, the teenager said: “Just be myself, go in the way I left off. Keep myself fit over the pre-season, over the summer break as well.

“Then go back and prove to Brendan and the Celtic staff that I’m good enough.

“But it will be all down to hard work. I want to progress as a player and a person as well, and hopefully I’ll be able to do that.”

Ralston need only look at left-back Kieran Tierney as a reminder of what's possible.

This time last year, Tierney was in the same boat as his fellow teenager, completely unproven, but fast forward 12 months and the 19-year-old - who celebrated a birthday last week - is arguably Scotland's most exciting young talent.

Shane Callaghan

Shane is a Dublin-based sports writer who swapped the football pitch for the press box upon learning that he was better with a pen than with a round bit of leather. Prior to joining HITC, Shane enjoyed spells with Sports Mole and Goal.com among others, while he was also club reporter for Irish football club Drogheda United.